


Sometimes It’s Not the Grand Gesture

by Joylee



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Don't read while hungry, F/M, Fluffapalooza, Much food is discusses and eaten, Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 11:27:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29384157
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joylee/pseuds/Joylee
Summary: It wasn’t that Rumon Gold had anything against Valentine’s Day.  He made a lot of money from the holiday.  It’s just that he never hadtimefor it.  Between the last minute shoppers that descended on his shop that week and raising a nine year old, romance slipped through the cracks.  But now that Belle French had entered his life, he felt he needed to make an effort.He just had no idea how.And the nine year old's 'help' wasn't helping
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Comments: 12
Kudos: 26





	1. Planning for Valentine's Day

**Author's Note:**

> My submission for Fluffapalooza this year. Which somehow turned into a multi chapter fic whose posting will stretch at least until Valentine's Day. I hope no one minds.

“Papa, Valentine’s Day is two weeks from today.” Bae announced over his Sunday Brunch ‘pancakes’ (actually drop scones, Gold had never developed a taste for the American variety) and fruit.

“That’s right.” Gold sipped his tea hiding a grimace. 

This was not news to him. As a shopkeeper he had to start planning for Valentine’s as soon as the Christmas rush was over. Dove had opted to work overtime this weekend to put up the decorations in the shop. “Easier if I don’t have to work around customers.” Was his excuse. Really it was that the big man was a closet romantic who loved the whole gaudy display of Valentine’s Day and did not want Gold around to cramp his style.

If Dove had his way they would have Valentine decorations up as soon as the Christmas ones came down, but Gold decreed that holiday decorations did not go up earlier than the month in which the holiday occurred.

“So the art project this week is going to be to make a box for Valentine cards.” Bae continued. “I need a shoe box for that.”

Gold nodded. There was a plastic bin in the basement with odds and ends like shoe boxes for just this purpose. A lesson learned when the boy had been in preschool and one night Gold had ended up unwinding a roll of paper towels and three of toilet paper to come up with the cardboard centers for an art project the next day.

“Next week, we’re going to make cards.” Bae carefully coated a bite of ‘pancake’ in just the right amount of syrup before consuming it. When he swallowed he went on. “This year I think I’ll buy Mom a card and mail it this week to be sure it gets to her before Valentines. She’ll like that better anyway. I’ve got ten dollars. I can buy a fancy one.”

“Mailing it early is a good idea.” Gold agreed. It was a shame that at nine the boy knew his mother would be more impressed by the amount he paid for the card than a handmade gift. 

And when had Bae changed to calling her ‘Mom’ rather than ‘Mama’? Well that was MIlah’s problem not Gold’s.

“And that means I could give the card I make to Belle.” Bae announced with a grin. “I think she’d like that don’t you?”

“She’ll love it.” Gold could assure him. Belle adored Bae. He and Belle had only been officially dating since last fall, but she was rapidly becoming an integral part of their family. 

He often wondered how such a remarkable woman had been willing to look twice at a curmudgeonly old cripple with a young son, and had yet to come up with an answer. He applied himself to making sure she had no reason to regret it. 

Which made the boy’s next comment that much more galling.

“You need to do something really nice for Belle for Valentines.” Bae’s tone had become admonishing. “Emma’s Dad is taking her Mom to Boston for the weekend. They’re going to a concert and a fancy dinner. You should do something like that. Emma’s going to stay with her Grandmother while they’re gone. Mrs. Ruth would probably let me stay with her too.”

Without a doubt. Ruth Nolan had been Bae’s go to emergency babysitter since before Milah had left. Partly because Emma had been Bae’s best friend since they had first laid eyes on each other as toddlers. Mostly because Mrs. Nolan was clearly unimpressed by the Golds’ parenting skills.

“That would be nice. But I have to work on Valentine's Day.” Gold’s shop was the only one in a three county area that sold fine jewelry. Valentine’s Day was always a madhouse. While good for his bottom line, the horde of last minute shoppers that descended on him on February 14th had done nothing to change his opinion of the holiday. Having grown up helping his Aunts with their shop, he had always viewed the day more as a retail opportunity than a time of romance.

“Oh.” Bae frowned. “Well, what are you going to do? Emma says you need to do something nice for Belle. Cause otherwise she won’t know that you like her.”

He really did not need nine year olds giving him advice on his love life.

Especially not when they were probably right, “I was planning on taking her to dinner. Saturday night.”

“I _suppose_ that will be okay,” Bae said dubiously. “But you take her to dinner most weekends.”

“Somewhere special.” Although he had no idea where that would be.

Bae wrinkled his nose but said nothing in a way that strongly suggested he still had doubts.

So did Gold. But romance was not his strong suit and given the work constraints he was under it was the best he could come up with.

Briefly he wondered if there was a 'Romance for Dummies’ book out there.

After brunch, with Bae engrossed in a game. Gold settled down to a Yelp search for a ‘special’ restaurant within a reasonable drive from Storybrooke. 

Tiana’s Palace was the fanciest restaurant in Storybrooke. The food was excellent, but he had taken Belle there a couple of times already, so it might not qualify as ‘special’. There was a decently rated seafood restaurant in Bar Harbor that appeared to be a white linen tablecloth kind of place and, based on his search, looked to be as fancy a spot as he was going to find in this part of Maine. The menu was a little old fashioned. He suspected that they catered to a very traditional clientele. But it had a view of the harbor and Belle might appreciate a place called The Reading Room.

Would Belle like that? She enjoyed seafood. But would this be too stodgy for her? 

He really wished he was better at this sort of thing. Belle deserved to be wooed and treated like a princess. Something he had no idea how to do. Milah had complained about it regularly. He usually placated her with something sparkly and expensive. Belle had yet to complain about his total inability to manage romantic gestures. But they’d only been together a few months. Expensive jewelry was probably overdoing things this early. And the only jewelry he had ever seen her wear was her mother’s necklace and she always wore that. Suggesting that it was sentiment rather than style.

So jewelry was out. So were flowers. She had a steady supply of them from the castoffs from her father’s shop. Coals to Newcastle and all that.

But she did like sweets. Gold perked up at that and promptly went on the Storybrooke Sweets’s website and ordered a two pound box, picking out a selection that he knew Belle liked and adding a special request for toffee.

He thought for a moment about ordering from one of the high end famous chocolatiers like La Maison du Chocolat. But Belle agreed with him about supporting local merchants whenever possible. Besides, she liked Storybrooke Sweets. Treating herself to a couple of their chocolates with her afternoon tea weekly. 

Feeling rather pleased with himself he decided to settle the question of which restaurant by asking Belle which she would prefer. To be on the safe side he booked reservations on The Reading Room’s website, figuring he could always cancel if Belle wanted to go to Tiana's Palace. Tiana would fit him in regardless. He was her landlord and she made a point of keeping on his good side. In no small part because he gave her a variable rate on her rent. Letting her pay more during the tourist seasons and less during her dead times.


	2. Gold's Plans Fall Apart

Thinking he had Valentine’s well in hand, Gold set off to meet Belle for their Tuesday standing lunch date at Granny’s feeling rather pleased with himself. He texted Belle for her lunch order and had their order in and tea on the table before she arrived.

Belle trotted in the door, unwrapping her outerwear and barely allowing him a chance to stand, before giving him a quick kiss and dropping to the bench on her side of the booth. “Oh, I’ve been looking forward to this all morning.” Picking up her mug of tea for a satisfying sip.

Fortunately there had been time for him to prepare her tea with the honey and a touch of milk she preferred. He smiled as he finished adding lemon to his own. “You ought to get an electric kettle in so you can make yourself a decent cuppa. That Keurg thing you’ve got makes terrible tea.and the coffees not all that good either.”

“It’s what the Coffee Service the town contracts with provides and the rest of the staff is fine with it.” Belle took another sip and grinned at him. “And you, sir, are a beverage snob.”

“Guilty.” He admitted. “There is no reason to drink bad tea, or coffee, when with very little effort you can have good.”

“Especially when the effort is by someone else.” Ruby added her opinion to the conversation. Setting sourdough bowls of today’s soup, lobster bisque, in front of first Belle and then Gold. “You guys gonna want dessert today? Granny made her famous carrot cake and it’s going fast.”

“Save us a piece to split.” Belle told her. “It’s been a trying morning.”

“You got it. And I’ll start a second pot.” Ruby bounced off to grab her next lunch order.

“I can’t believe you actually made Ruby learn how to brew tea ‘properly’.” Belle tore off a bite of her sourdough bowl and dunked it in the soup before taking a bite.

“I didn’t ‘make’ them do anything.” Gold loved watching the enjoyment Belle got from her food. “I merely told them that if they expected their customers to actually drink what they were selling they better buy decent quality tea and learn to actually brew it. Granny was the one who saw a marketing opportunity. They charge triple for a pot of their ‘Proper Scotish Tea’ and their afternoon ‘High Tea’ service is a huge draw especially among the antiquing crowd. If anything I did them a favor with the suggestion.”

Belle snorted. “Right. And there was no threatening subtext from their landlord that if he didn’t get good tea eviction might be looming..”

“Not on my side.” This soup was actually quite good. “I couldn’t even have threatened to stop patronizing them. I had a toddler who loved their chicken strips. Course I wouldn’t have ordered the tea.”

There was a lull in conversation as they both enjoyed their meal. And Gold worked up the nerve to ask about Valentine’s day. “Uh, I was wondering, if it’s alright with you, if I could take you out for a nice Valentine’s meal on Saturday rather than Sunday night. It would give us time for a more leisurely meal. I’m working a full day Sunday and we both have to work Monday. If we did it Sunday night it would be rushed.

“There’s an interesting sounding seafood place called The Reading Room in Bar Harbor or we could go to Tiana’s.” He ran down at that point as Belle was frowning.

“I’m sorry, Rum. I’m going to be helping Papa out at the shop all weekend.” She sounded regretful. “He always drives to Boston for stock the day before the big holidays. It’s so much cheaper than getting them delivered and he gets better quality if he picks them out himself. Between the six hour round trip drive and picking out the flowers, he never gets back until late afternoon. So, I help out in the shop while he’s gone and then we put the arrangement together that night so he can deliver them Sunday while I take care of the last minute orders.” 

“Ah, well, I suppose then we could go on Sunday evening. After I close up the shop.” After an entire weekend dealing with the holiday rush Gold doubted he would be great company, but he would have to try.

“Or when we manage to shoo away all of the last minute shoppers on Sunday, we could get Chinese takeout, go back to yours and put our feet up.” Belle suggested dryly. “I mean it’s really sweet of you to plan this. And I hate disappointing you, but I’d far rather go out for a romantic dinner when I’m not so wiped out that I fall asleep face down in my salad.”

“Are you sure?” That actually sounded better to Gold, but, “I mean it’s fine with me, but I didn’t want to disappoint you. It’s our first Valentine’s Day after all.”

“I’m sure, Rum.” Belle was definite. “I’m the daughter of florists, Valentine’s Day is a work day not a holiday. How about we check out this restaurant you found the following weekend?”

“I’ll call and reschedule.” 

Despite Gold’s preference for patronizing local merchants, Storybrooke’s grocer failed to stock certain things that Gold deemed essential; like mutton, dry beans other than kidney and Ben and Jerry’s Toffee Break ice cream. He had solved this problem by purchasing a chest freezer and driving to the Portland Food Co Op about once a month to stock up. Bae, who was allowed to pick out ‘anything’ for the supplies for two meals, regarded these trips by way of an adventure, particularly when they included a stop at Target for cleaning supplies and toiletries not carried by Storybrooke’s shops.

This Saturday the boy was particularly excited. Announcing, “I’m gonna find the _perfect_ card for Mom.”

Gold rather doubted that they made a card that read, ‘Happy Valentine’s to the Mom that forgets my existence from one month to the next’, but left Bae to read through the cards as he picked up a few incidentals they were low on like toothpaste. As an afterthought he picked up a couple of extra toothbrushes and some small containers of the face soap and shampoo he had noticed Belle used. She had set out a toothbrush and razor for him to use on the two occasions Bae had sleepovers and he had been able to spend the entire night with her.

Which reminded him to grab some more condoms.

It also made him consider at what point it would be appropriate for him to suggest she spend the night at his place. All the parenting books suggested not having the significant other spend the night until the relationship was ‘serious’. Gold had been serious since their second date. But he was carrying a lot more baggage, and years, than Belle was and he could certainly understand if she wanted to take things slow before committing. 

Bae was still considering cards when Gold checked on him. Leaving Gold to while away time in the book aisle. To his surprise he found a paperback edition of a collection of classic love poems that included Dickinson, Marvel and Donne. He added it to his basket on a whim. 

“I found the card I want to get, Papa.” Bae was holding two cards and two tiny Whitman samplers. “And can I get a nicer card to give to Emma rather than the ones I’m giving the rest of the class?”

The card for Emma showed the Avengers and read ‘ I want you on my team, Be my BFF’. The one he picked out for Milah had clearly been designed to be given to your eighty year old Nana complete with embossed flowers covered in gilt and glitter.

“Of course you can get a card for Emma. She’ll really like this.” Gold paused. Should he suggest something more appropriate for Milah? He decided not to. Bae showed he knew how to pick a present for someone he actually knew with this card for Emma. Maybe getting something like this would clue Milah in that she needed to make more of an effort. “If you want to send your mother chocolates we’ll need to ship it DHL to get it there in a week.”

The cost would be five times the price of the card and Sampler, but Gold could afford to humor the boy.

“No. The chocolates are for Emma and Belle.” Bae grinned. “Cause they both like candy. Mom doesn’t.”

“That’s very thoughtful of you, Bae.” Gold choked out. 

If Bae wanted to give Belle candy, he could not then sweep in and upstage the boy with his box of chocolate from Storybrooke Sweets. He would have to find another present.


End file.
